Topic: Just Cause 2 - Update: Avalanche on piracy, DRM, and PC ports

[MysterD]

NEW --> 8-29-2012:
GameSpy -> Talk w/ Avalanche on Just Cause 2 MP Mod; and if there are plans for MP portions in future JC games.

OLD:
CVG -> Avalanche speaks on piracy, DRM, and PC ports.
ATI Radeon gamers, Catalyst driver 10.5 breaks Just Cause 2 PC. If you have trouble here, until the situation is resolved, revert back to Catalyst driver 10.4 for JC2.

Bluesnews -> Just Cause will have a sequel.

[MysterD]

Delayed until 2009, at least

Just Cause 2 slips to 2009 News

News by Rob Purchese

Friday

Eidos has told Eurogamer that tropical action game Just Cause 2 has slipped to 2009.

When next year, however, is unclear, and we don't know why it slipped out of its 2008 release window either.

Developer Avalanche Studios has lofty goals for Just Cause 2, which is in development for PC, PS3 and 360. Many of these are abandoned features from the first game, or improvements asked for by the community.

Side-missions are gone, for example, replaced by chaos activities that reward destructive rampages by increasing influence with associated factions.

Gain enough and fresh opportunities will arise, unlocking new information and employees. Eventually influence can be so great that you wield power enough to oppose governments.

On top of all this is reworked enemy AI, new lock-on targeting that allows individual limbs to be picked out, bigger guns and better vehicle controls.

In summary: the openworld action shooter that Just Cause 1 should have been, rather than the 6/10 slog that materialised.

Pop over to our Just Cause 2 gallery for an idea of what to expect.

[Pugnate]

The original is one of the games I bought and never played... still shrink wrapped.

[MysterD]

The action, crazy stunts, and open-world stuff was good.
Story is quite lacking. So is the dialogue.

It's a fun, short ride.

[MysterD]

GDC 09 preview from IGN on JC2

[wizall]

I always thought Just Cause was one of those gullible purchases, not unlike Cabela's African Safari.

[MysterD]

Just Cause 2 trailer from E3.
This is the trailer that GTTV showed last night on Spike TV E3 Show

[MysterD]

Just Cause 2 - NEW Trailer.

[MysterD]

March 26, 2010 is the official release date for JC2 for X360, PS3, and PC.

[MysterD]

No Win XP support for JC2.
DX10 and 11 ONLY (Vista and Win 7).
Here's the system requirements.

Minimum:

- Operating System: Microsoft Windows Vista or Windows 7 (Windows XP is unsupported)
- Processor: Dual-core CPU with SSE3 (Athlon 64 X2 4200 / Pentium D 3GHz)
- Graphics Card: Nvidia Geforce 8800 Series / ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro with 256MB memory or equivalent DX10 card with 256MB memory
- Memory: 2GB RAM
- DirectX: Microsoft DirectX 10
- Hard Drive: 10GB of free drive space
- Optical Drive: DVD-ROM drive
- Sound Card: 100% DirectX 10 compatible sound card
- Internet Connection: Internet connection required for product activation
- Input: Keyboard and mouse (Microsoft Xbox 360 controller optional)

Recommended:

- Operating System: Microsoft Windows Vista or Windows 7 (Windows XP is unsupported)
- Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.6GHz or AMD Phenom X3 2.4GHz
- Graphics Card: Nvidia GeForce GTS 250 Series with 512MB / ATI Radeon HD 5750 Series with 512MB or equivalent DX10 card with 512MB memory
- Memory: 3GB
- DirectX: Microsoft DirectX 10.1 with Vista SP1
- Hard Drive: 10GB of free drive space
- Optical Drive: DVD-ROM drive
- Sound Card: 100% DirectX 10 compatible Dolby Digital 5.1 sound card
- Internet Connection: Internet connection required for product activation
- Input: Keyboard and mouse (Xbox 360 controller optional)

[Pugnate]

Why release this on PC?

Anyway, an Xbox game that *requires* an 8800 card? They must have spent 5 minutes optimizing this one.

[MysterD]

Why release this on PC?

Why NOT release this on the PC?
I liked the first one - and I want the sequel here on the PC.
So...

Anyway, an Xbox game that *requires* an 8800 card? They must have spent 5 minutes optimizing this one.

The specs seem VERY high.

I'll buy it once it gets dirt cheap on the PC and/or when I get a bad-ass PC that can actually run it - whichever comes first.

EDIT:
Really, though - w/ specs this high, they should wait to put the game out, polish it up a bit more, and hope most gamers by then actually have the DX10-required specs (or better) to actually run it.

Last time I checked - Steam survey Jan. 2010 said most Steam users still are on Win XP....

[Pugnate]

I don't trust that steam survey at all.

[MysterD]

Just Cause 2 PC will require Steam.

[MysterD]

Here's PCG's impressions on Just Cause 2 PC with NVidia vid cards and their 3D glasses.

[W7RE]

There's a demo on Xbox Live Marketplace now. Not sure about other platforms.

Reminds me of other GTA type games: I find myself wandering and doing random stuff instead of missions, and then growing bored of that within 20-30 minutes and shutting it off. Other wise though, the game just feels generic. Generic guy with generic weapons and generic badguys, and generic mechanics. Oh and he's got a grappling hook and a parachute. There's some interesting stuff to do, but it just doesn't keep my attention that much.

[MysterD]

And reviews are popping-up everywhere...

[MysterD]

Yahtzee takes on Just Cause 2.

[MysterD]

CVG -> Avalanche speaks on piracy, DRM, and PC ports.
Yeah...I think Avalanche obviously gets it.

Christofer Sundberg, boss of Just Cause creator Avalanche studios in Sweden, certainly believes there might just be.

Sundberg is a long-term opponent of 'always online' DRM measures, and is keen for the video games industry to look at other ways of curbing piracy - including the rarely-discussed possibility of job interviews.

"Piracy is always worrying," he told CVG. "It's never been a helpful thing. We'll let our publishers fight that battle. But I mean, 50 percent of the people that work for me come from a hacker background - that's true."

When asked whether approaching leading hackers and asking them to put their programming skills to good use was a wise idea, Sundberg added:

"Oh yeah. I absolutely think that's a fair approach, to think about how these people can fit on the right side of the law. It's one way, at least. Perhaps the truest pirates are too much down the road of anarchy to ever work with you in a proper way; these are the guys who see us as evil!

"But in Sweden the [hacking] scene was huge... As a studio, we've found that there's definitely a lot of talent [in that community]."

Sundberg once again labelled DRM measures as "stupid".

"The DRM does not stop piracy," he said, "it just punishes the people who have actually paid for the game. It's completely useless. Forcing people to be online all the time and so on doesn't show respect to the people who actually buy PC games."

Sundberg's solution to denting video game piracy doesn't stop at cherry picking the brightest sparks from the hacking community, however.

He also believes that better, exclusive PC games - powered by constant updates - would reduce illegal software sharing.

"We've always made PC games, but we actually don't like [porting games from console to PC]," said Sundberg, whose Just Cause games have been hugely popular on the format.

"I've always been of the opinion that we should design PC games for the PC players. PC players and console players are completely two different types of consumer. It's always unfair to not design the game for the consumer you're targeting. The PC version is always a second thought [for publishers], like: 'Oh, and we need a PC version too.'

"You end up just doing a port, so there's not a lot of time, budget or creative thinking going into using the PC. I think that's quite sad. We [as an industry] should take the PC platform more seriously. Everyone is just complaining about piracy on the PC, but when it comes to in-game DLC or social connectivity, the options on PC compared to console are endless. I would like at some point to do a really good PC game designed specifically for PC players."

He added: "I think piracy wouldn't be as much of an issue if there were better PC games out there. We could just scrap the whole concept of stupid DRM."